Author: Joshua Maynard

A word for the New Year:
“I told you what to do. You haven’t done what I told you to do. Go back and figure out what I told you to do.”
Some folks get words like this going into the new year and believe they are from God, having not even be slightest clue what He allegedly told them to do.
Folks, God isn’t “The Riddler”.
“Holy Horoscopes Batman!”
Folks, you would probably get a clearer message from a horoscope than a riddle from a preacher, and yet it wouldn’t be any better.
You don’t need a word from someone else.
You don’t need someone to speak to God on your behalf.
You don’t need a Moses to deliver God’s message to you.
The Holy Spirit is your direct connection to the Father.
Quiet yourself and listen to God’s voice within.
– Bishop Joshua Maynard
Everyone and I mean EVERYONE picks and chooses which Bible verses to believe and/or apply to their lives.
Some say, “I believe the whole Bible is inspired by God and I believe ALL of it.”
Ask them why they don’t have multiple wives, own slaves and kill those who violate the Mosaic Law.
Everyone picks and chooses verses.
Everyone interprets verses differently.
That is why we have thousands of Christian denominations with varying belief systems.
– Bishop Joshua Maynard
You’ve heard it said that “you can’t take back what you say”.
Sometimes people think they are controlling their tongue, but are merely channeling their venomous words into their keyboard.
I believe that hurtful words that are typed are even more hurtful than words that are spoken.
You see, words that are spoken may be excused as a moment of anger or an emotional outburst from someone who didn’t take time to consider their words.
However, words that are typed, even such as this post, must be weighed and considered as they are typed.
A person who types a hurtful word to another has spent time entertaining their anger, and their words are without excuse.
We must forgive them all the same, but their inability to control their tongue and their keyboard points to a deeply rooted seed of bitterness.
– Bishop Joshua Maynard
A guy on a radio show said that if you don’t manage the small amount of money that you have, God won’t bless you with more.
That isn’t true. If God couldn’t or wouldn’t bless you even when you were in a mess of your own making, We couldn’t believe any of His promises.
What this radio guy was taking about is “Tough Love” and friends, God doesn’t practice “Tough Love”. He isn’t waiting for you to miss a car payment, get your electricity or water turned off or get evicted from your home to bless you.
He’s not waiting for you to “learn your lesson.”
Sometimes you have to take steps in the right direction to see where God is leading you but believe me when I say that God is always wanting to prosper us.
– Bishop Joshua Maynard
God called and used people in the Bible that had done horrific acts, even to the point of committing murder, to accomplish some of the greatest feats of Christian faith, leaving lasting legacies of righteousness in their wake.
Before you accuse God of brining judgment on people that commit even less immoral acts than murder, get a revelation of who God is, His love and grace towards mankind and realize that you are more judgmental and critical of sin than He is.
– Bishop Joshua Maynard
People have said that it is wrong as an American to preach a prosperity Gospel to someone in a foreign country that is living in poverty.
Prosper can mean growing in wealth and material possessions, but it can also mean to grow in health and strength and to have abundance.
If we do not believe that God can lift someone out of poverty and into an abundant life, we have no business preaching the Gospel.
Jesus came to give life abundantly, spiritual and physical.
Our God is a God who prospers.
Have an active faith that both believes God for a better future, a better NOW and act upon that faith as God leads you into opportunities.
– Bishop Joshua Maynard
God is not the destroyer that many Christians make Him out to be.
Satan comes to steal, kill and destroy.
If you believe Jesus came and died for us but His Father wants us dead, then you don’t know the Heavenly Father.
People often warn believers not to attribute the works of God to the Devil, while they persist religiously in attributing the works of the Devil to God.
– Bishop Joshua Maynard
The God of the Old Testament is presented to us by prophets, judges, kings, conquerors, poets and scribes.
This picture of God is among other things, full of violence, judgment, condemnation and death. A God that believe it or not, sometimes has to be reminded of His own love for the creation, lest He forget it and kill everyone in anger.
This picture of God is presented by writers who unquestionably and perhaps unintentionally projected their own culture, superstitions, traditions, doubts and fears in their attempt at interpreting God’s role in their lives.
Fast-forward over 400 years to the time of Christ and you find a much different representation of God.
A mature representation of God that is less/colored by superstitions and traditions.
A representation worthy of the enlightenment that can only come through growth.
A representation that was over 400 years of societal and cultural changes.
Here we see that God is presented as a Heavenly Father who loved us so much that He made peace with man by sending and offering His only Son for us.
A God who made us heirs and sons of God when we were still the scum of the Earth.
A God who healed every disease and forgave every sin.
A God who never stopped wanting to have a relationship with the creation.
How can we possibly reconcile these two different perspectives on God?
You may never reconcile them entirely, but you can most certainly understand them by placing them in context.
God has not changed, but if you study the Bible from cover to cover, you will find that man’s picture of God has not only changed but matured because of the enlightenment and revelation that the Holy Spirit has given us by Christ Jesus.
What is your picture of God?
Think about it.
Our picture of God should always be maturing and changing as the Spirit reveals Him to us from glory to glory.
– Bishop Joshua Maynard
Why are some folks super-spiritual to the point that they are worried more about what Satan is doing than what God is doing?
Why are some folks super-spiritual to the point that they are more focused on what God is doing around them than what He told them to do?
Super-spirituality is not what it means to live a Spirit-led life. It is a spiritual life that is not only “out of balance”, but also “out of focus”.
– Bishop Joshua Maynard
Doesn’t the old hymn say
“The world before me
The cross behind me”?
No, it actually says exactly the opposite.
Yes, instead of going into all the world, many have been stuck on a chorus and a course that leads away from the world, and back to the point of their conversion, the cross.
If you are a born again believer and the cross is still “before” you or “in front of” you today, then you are going in the wrong direction!
The world is not waiting at the cross for you to reach them, and the cross is not waiting for you to climb up on it and die to yourself daily!
The cross was Christ’s to bear, and He bore it once and for all time, for you!
Did I forget to mention that AFTER the cross, Christ rose again?
He didn’t rise again so that He could climb back onto the cross and get away from the world.
He rose again so that we could go INTO the world!
The cross behind us, the world before us!
Get your spirit, soul and body moving in the right direction, and NO TURNING BACK!
– Bishop Joshua Maynard
If God is so concerned about how we are clothed, His own Son wouldn’t have died naked on the cross, and Adam and Eve would’ve had more than fig leaves.
Folks can make how we dress, our hair, make-up, anything into a holiness issue.
It is a holiness issue to them, NOT God.
Don’t let folks rob you of joy over their insecurities and legalistic beliefs.
– Bishop Joshua Maynard
Easter is not supposed to be a day of sadness.
Christmas: Jesus is born!
Easter: Jesus died.
Christmas: Birth!
Easter: Death.
No, Easter is LIFE! Jesus conquered death and rose from the dead!
Let us remember that Easter is actually more joyous than Christ’s birth!
Easter is more about Life than it is about death
Easter celebrates the greatest gift of all, our reconciliation to the Father.
If your Easter church service leaves you sad, down, bummed, then you didn’t hear the Gospel, you heard an epitaph.
Get yourself some chocolate and Easter candy and cheer up.
Celebrate Easter!
It should be better than Christmas for believers!
– Bishop Joshua Maynard
Most Christian churches and organizations have mandatory leadership programs that one must pass through before being allowed into leadership.
Do you know what it took to become an Apostle of the early church: A casting of lots (like drawing a name from a hat, or rolling a dice) with the faith that God would lead who would become the next Apostle by guiding the choice. No programs, no certifications, not even a “Word from the Lord”, a vision, a dream or a confirmation. The Apostles “rolled the dice” so-to-speak and asked the Holy Spirit to guide their hand, to pick the next Apostle.
Today, most Christians would call that “divination” or witchcraft. Truly there is more paganism and witchcraft in Christianity today than people care to acknowledge.
I am convinced that most Christians would be better off “rolling the dice” a little by faith, than to stay still; to stay stagnant and not move or choose because they haven’t heard God’s still small voice give them direction.
God leads us when we step out.
– Bishop Joshua Maynard
The disciples pointed out to Jesus that they rebuked a person that was believing on Christ, but not following Him in the same way that they were.
Likewise, Christians today like to gloat about “standing up for God”, “taking a stand on the Word”, or “rebuking in love” another believer that doesn’t share their doctrinal beliefs.
It didn’t work out too well for the disciples.
Jesus wasn’t impressed.
Why do we think He would be pleased with our gloating, especially on social media like Facebook or from the pulpit?
– Bishop Joshua Maynard
If you are in Christ Jesus, you are an “object of Grace”.
He has made you His object of Grace by transforming your spirit into a new creation.
He has placed His seal upon you with the Holy Spirit and you belong to Him.
You are the living, breathing representative of God’s Grace in the Earth.
You personify Grace.
You exude Grace.
Grace lives in you and through you to others.
Don’t be discouraged.
Don’t doubt God’s love for you.
You ARE Grace.
– Bishop Joshua Maynard
Some people stand behind you because they support you.
Others stand behind you because they know that whatever is coming…It’s going to hit you first.
We need discernment to know who is supporting us, and who is using us as a human shield.
– Bishop Joshua Maynard